Windows Setup

Warning! This page is documentation for my preferred way of installing Windows on host computers. Some of the actions here may affect performance, have unwanted side effects and can cause irreparable damage. This documentation is provided as is and makes no guarantees.

Prerequisites

You'll need:

  • An >=8 GB pendrive, preferably at least USB 3.0 for the speed.
  • Genuine Windows Installation images (either get them from Microsoft or through massgravel's site)

Installation

First, create an installation media. I recommend using Rufus for this, as I haven't had any issues so far.

"Debloating"

Warning! Removing system components always carries risks such as boot failures or other modules not working! (For example, uninstalling certain apps will make controller input unavailable)

Suggested privacy programs

One of the first things I like to nuke is telemetry and unwanted system apps such as Cortana... among other things...

Anyway, the two tools we'll be using are O&O ShutUp10++ and Windows Privacy Dashboard

Suggested replacement programs

A lot of the default Windows apps are, in my opinion, insufferable. Here's a list of alternatives I use (and some I don't)

  • Web browser: Literally any Firefox fork. Waterfox, LibreWolf (if you want to suffer)
  • Media player: VLC Media Player (Alternatively: MPV)
  • Image viewer: IrfanView

Miscellaneous settings

Some miscellaneous settings I use to make my life easier for other things. Some of these are optimizations and some are quality of life tweaks.

Network settings

Note: To get your current network configuration, run ipconfig in a terminal
Output of the ipconfig command in a terminal

Setting a static IP

Setting a static IP is mainly if you want to port forward or want to use services such as SSH and want to make sure your machine's address is always the same and known.

To change your IP to static navigate to Settings -> Network and Internet -> Ethernet (or Wi-Fi) -> your connection (your network's name) -> IP assignment: Edit -> Enable IPv4

Here you'll want to set your preferred IP, your network's subnet mask (e.g. 255.255.255.0) and the gateway

Changing DNS

Changing your DNS to something other than what you ISP gives you may improve website loading times.

Navigate to your network connection again and change your preferred DNS (both of them).

Nobody likes Bing. Why it's in the system search is beyond me, sometimes it hides the apps it'd otherwise find. Let's disable it through where else but the registry editor.

Disable News

The News thing on the taskbar is both annoying and uses a considerable amount of resources. Luckily we don't need to go into the registry to disable it. Simply right-click on the taskbar, navigate to "news" and click disable.